Cover Love #3 Pelican Shakespeare

You might have seen The Pelican Shakespeare series before: the paperbacks with the characteristic coloured line on the cover has been a staple in almost every book lover’s collection. Unfortunately, some of the most well known plays (Hamlet, Macbeth, etc.) have sold out and are nowhere to be found. This year, Shakespeare’s 400th birthday-year, Penguin issued a brand new series with the Bard’s works.

To be completely fair: when I discovered the old The Pelican Shakespeare series, I wasn’t blown away by their looks. They looked okay, but the covers were rather old-fashioned. Fortunately, Penguin hired the talented Manuja Waldia to design the new series. Her simple and colourful art work give the covers a fresh and modern look. You can see from the examples above that the tragedies and comedies are easily recognisable by their cover’s colour. Nice touch! The titles will be published over the course of a few months. The ones that are already available are (click on the link to go to the bookdepository.com page): The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet.

Upcoming works to be published are: Julius Caesar, The Tempest (both november 2016), Much Ado About Nothing, Titus Andronicus, Henry IV, part I, Richard II (all in april 2017).

What do you think about this series? Have you read any of Shakespeare’s work? So far I’ve read three: Hamlet, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I enjoyed the first two more than the third and I’m very much looking forward to reading Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew!

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Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2

Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love

For the Love of Books

There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry—
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll—
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human soul!

- by Emily Dickinson (1873)

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I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.